Difference between primary and secondary

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bruiserbrew

New Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Pepperell, MA
Whats the difference between the two. And if i were to add fruits or juices to it that would be in the secondary, correct? Thanks a lot.
 
Primary is where ANY fermentation should take place........

Juices or fruit would have sugar that would be fermented.

Secondary is for after fermentation, to clear.
 
Primary Fermenter is where you will actually ferment the beer in.

The secondary fermenter is also called a "Brite Tank". In most cases its purpose is to help further clear up the beer. More often than not, no fermentation actually happens in the secondary fermenter, unless you introduce another fermentable to the secondary (i.e. fruits).

People will argue the pros and cons of actually using a secondary fermenter, if you are a new brewer I suggest using one. By using a secondary you will rack your beer off of most of the trub from the primary. What little trub you did transfer over to the secondary will settle out and when you transfer your beer to your bottling bucket you will move over even less of it. While your beer is settling in the secondary, you can make another brew and put it into the primary. Pipeline!
 
to further confuse you, nobody said you have to secondary, and there's no rule saying you can't rack to a tertiary.

primary to ferment
secondary for adding fruit while getting it off the thick yeast cake/trub
tertiary to clear the finished beer

but its really uncommon for beer to have a tertiary. Mead and wine on the other hand...
 

Latest posts

Back
Top